State pension and how many qualifying years

singhini

I recently logged into my government gateway account to review my state pension and it suggested i had 30 years of full contributions and if i contribute another 2 years before 2037 i will receive the full state pension.

However i keep reading/hearing you need to make 35 years of qualifying contributions to get the full state pension.

Then a friend told me i am wrong and its 30 years.

Can someone clarify for me if its 30, 32, 35 years or something else please.

MallyGirl

It is neither. 35 years is only relevant for people who start paying ni after 2016 I think.
Do a quick search on the term 'transitional rules' and someone will have explained it properly 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Can someone clarify for me if its 30, 32, 35 years or something else please.

It's 35 years for all those starting to pay NI after 2016 and something else for everyone else.

This is a pretty good explanation 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.royallondon.com/siteassets/site-docs/media-centre/good-with-your-money-guides/topping-up-your-state-pension-guide.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjd9bngt5f5AhVbQ0EAHZQZA-UQFnoECA8QAQ&usg=AOvVaw1EZqV_HvoxbZPC3Evp2a77

p00hsticks

singhini said:

I recently logged into my government gateway account to review my state pension and it suggested i had 30 years of full contributions and if i contribute another 2 years before 2037 i will receive the full state pension.

However i keep reading/hearing you need to make 35 years of qualifying contributions to get the full state pension.

Then a friend told me i am wrong and its 30 years.

Can someone clarify for me if its 30, 32, 35 years or something else please.

Something else.

As Mallygirl says, if you'd already started your working life prior to the introduction of the new State Pemsion in April 2016, then you fall under transitional rules and the number of years you need will depend on your own personal record (e.g. any SERPS/S2P you'd accumulated, if you've been contracted in or out etc). Personally I've been contracted out for a lot of my working life and so need 44, others like yourself  only 32 and some even more, less or somewhere in between.

xylophone

Can someone clarify for me if its 30, 32, 35 years or something else please.

The full NSP at 8/4/16 was £155.65.

A Full Basic was £119.30.

Two calculations were done for you ( and all under State Pension Age at 6/4/16) to establish your foundation (starting) amount for NSP.

This would have been different for each person according to his contribution history and whether or not he had been "contracted out" of  Additional State Pension.

A person might have been contributing for less than a period of thirty years but because of a high ASP have already reached a full NSP.

A person might have been contributing for more than forty years and yet (because of a high COPE), not  have reached a full NSP.

Old Rules

NI years/30 (max) x (Full Basic) + (Additional State Pension - (if applicable) Deduction for Contracting Out).

New Rules

(NI years/35 (max) x Full NSP) - (if applicable) Contracted Out Pension Equivalent

 The foundation amount was the higher of the two and in your case was less than a full NSP.

See

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181237/single-tier-pension-fact-sheet.pdf

• What if my foundation amount is less than the full single tier?

• • Under the Government’s proposals, if your foundation amount is lower than the full single-tier pension, you can increase the value of your state pension with further qualifying years up until you reach State Pension age.

  • You can do this even if you already have 35 qualifying years. This is likely to be people who were previously contracted out. Please see here.

  • Each further qualifying year after 6 April 2016 will increase your foundation amount by 1/35th of the full single-tier pension (up to the maximum level). 

  • 
    

xylophone

Some information about COPE.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pension-fact-sheets/contracting-out-and-why-we-may-have-included-a-contracted-out-pension-equivalent-cope-amount-when-you-used-the-online-service